Former Vice President Joe Biden has made his first television ad buy of the general election, a $15 million television, digital, radio and print advertising blitz running in six fall battlegrounds — all states that President Trump carried in 2016.
The ads, airing in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina, as well as on national cable, are evidence of Biden’s improved financial position after he raised $80.8 million in May, as well as a forceful early effort to lock in and expand the consistent lead he has established in national polls over Trump.
WATCH: Biden ‘This Job’ Ad
Biden’s campaign announced today that they, the Democratic National Committee and their joint fundraising committees hauled in a combined $141 million in June, which was by far the campaign’s best monthly figure to date.
Biden’s campaign called it a “jaw-dropping sum of money.”
The campaign also reported bringing in a combined $282 million with the DNC during the April-June second quarter of fundraising, which was another record.
And officials touted that the DNC outraised their rivals for a second straight month.
It’s highly unusual for a challenger’s campaign to raise more money than an incumbent president’s.
The announcement from Biden’s team came just a couple of hours after Trump’s reelection campaign reported that they, the Republican National Committee and their joint fundraising ventures brought in a combined $131 million in June — and more than $266 million the past three months.
The June and second quarter hauls were both records for the Trump campaign and the RNC.
In an email to supporters, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillion called the fundraising figures “incredibly exciting” and said they were “a true testament that the people are standing behind Joe Biden.”
The campaign spotlighted its grassroots outreach and fundraising, reporting that 68 percent of last month’s donors were new and that the overall average online contribution was $34.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale – in reporting their fundraising figures – said that the “monumental June fundraising haul proves that people are voting with their wallets and that enthusiasm behind President Trump’s reelection is only growing.”